How UX/UI Designer Lonne van Heijningen brought Fusie to life

Sometimes, an idea simply appears in the middle of the night. That is exactly what happened to Lonne van Heijningen. The 24-year-old UX/UI designer has been working at Selmers for less than a year and is the creative mind behind Fusie: the mascot of Fuse, the digital platform featuring multiple applications for factory automation.

“It actually started as just a fun little extra,” Lonne explains. “I was working on something else and thought: I can’t look at this anymore right now. That’s when the idea for a mascot for our platform suddenly popped into my head.”

And the idea kept growing. Not just within the team, but within the development of Fuse itself. Fusie has already appeared at Tube in Düsseldorf and is increasingly helping to make the platform more accessible, user-friendly and recognizable.

Creative and technical

Creativity has always played a major role in Lonne’s life. As a child, she was constantly drawing, creating and trying out new hobbies. She chose a study programme that combines creativity and technology: Engineering Product Design at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.

As a UX/UI designer at Selmers, she focuses on the user experience of Fuse: how people navigate through applications, where they encounter difficulties and how technology can be made understandable and enjoyable to use. “In the end, it’s not just about technology,” she says. “It also has to feel logical to the user.”

Besides developing the applications themselves, she also contributed to the platform’s identity: from naming and colour schemes to the overall visual style of Fuse.

From idea to character

For Lonne, every design process starts in much the same way: analyzing, researching and, above all, sketching. “I sketch and write down everything that comes to mind. Good or bad, it doesn’t matter. Then I start researching what is involved, and from there new ideas emerge.”

With Fusie, that process happened surprisingly quickly. One night, while looking at an image of a car fuse, she suddenly saw a face appear in it. “That’s when I thought: this could be it.”

From that moment on, Fusie really started to take shape. Not just visually, but also in terms of character and purpose. The mascot had to truly fit Fuse. “We looked at what Fuse stands for: accessibility, user-friendliness, trust and familiarity. All of that had to be reflected in Fusie.”

Attention at the Tube

Tube Düsseldorf was the first time Fusie was introduced to the outside world. For the exhibition, Lonne not only designed digital applications, posters and visuals, but also created a physical model of Fusie. A major challenge, as she quickly discovered. “At first I thought: how hard can it be? But in the end, there’s much more involved than you expect.”

The design not only had to look good but also had to work technically. The model was built from multiple 3D-printed parts and had to be sturdy enough for transport and use on the exhibition floor. In addition, she worked on interactive applications in which Fusie guided visitors through the Fuse platform. Using a touchscreen, visitors could navigate through different applications themselves, with Fusie serving as a familiar guide.

The model was intentionally designed to draw visitors’ attention to the keychains and, in turn, to the platform itself. Visitors enthusiastically took them along, and colleagues wanted one as well. “I’m even hearing now that the keychains disappear at home because children love them so much,” she laughs.

Just getting started

What is she most proud of in the end? That her spontaneous late-night idea grew into something tangible that has now truly become part of Fuse. “I have ideas all the time,” she says. “But this is one of the first times I actually fully carried one through.”

Today, Fusie stands proudly at Selmers and continues to grow alongside the platform itself. And the future? Lonne already has plenty of ideas. “I mainly hope people will start recognizing Fusie more and more. That it truly becomes part of Fuse.”